French online retail sales on track to reach €80bn in 2017

Online retail sales in France could rise by 11 percent this year to 80 billion euros ($85.85 billion) as the number of online vendors increases and people turn to the Internet to shop more often, the French E-Commerce Federation (Fevad) said on Thursday.

This would compare with a 14.6 percent year-on-year rise in 2016, when the French spent 72 billion euros buying online, Fevad said.

The 2016 performance included Christmas sales of 14 billion euros, a 15 percent year-on-year increase.

Sales generated on web-based marketplaces rose 18 percent in 2016, while mobile sales increased by 30 percent.

For the sixth consecutive year, the average value of the basket of purchased goods declined, notably due to price competition among retailers and reduced or free shipping costs.

The average value of the basket fell 7 percent to 70 euros, but this was offset by a rise in purchase frequency, Fevad said.

There were on average 28 online transactions per year per buyer in 2016, a 21 percent year-on-year rise. There were over 200,000 e-commerce websites in France, a year-on-year increase of 12 percent from 2015.

France is ranked as the fifth biggest e-commerce market worldwide. In Europe, Britain is bigger.

In 2015, e-commerce represented an estimated 7 percent of retail sales in France.